Jennings and the Bucks opened their season at TD Garden on Friday. It was quite the debut, too, with Jennings scoring 21 points on 9-for-17 shooting, as the Bucks won, 99-88.

Jennings had his fingerprints all over this win, a rarity for him as he typically struggles against Boston point guard Rajon Rondo.

In addition to his scoring, Jennings gave the Bucks 13 assists and forced six steals. His lob pass to big man Larry Sanders with 5:02 remaining in the game thwarted a fourth-quarter Celtics run and sealed the game for the Bucks.

The win was especially rewarding for Jennings because it came against Rondo.

“He didn’t just have good games, he has owned me,” Jennings said. “To be honest with you, I’ll be honest, this is a different year. I know I have to be more aggressive. We missed the playoffs two years in a row, and it started from tonight. Whether I shoot bad or not, I want every guard to know I gave my all and they felt me that night.”

Friday was a good start to what will be a big year for Jennings, who will be a restricted free agent next summer afte not receiving an extension.

Jennings put missing out on a new deal in the context of his career to date, going back to his decision to go to Oak Hill Academy and play in Italy rather than attend Arizona for a year.

“Just makes me more hungrier,” he said. “I have been through this situation before, when I went to Oak Hill, when I went to Europe. People kept saying, ‘It is not going to work, he is not going to do that.’ All I can do is keep playing basketball and let everything else work out.”

In the meantime, coach Scott Skiles is just hopeful that the uncertainty around Jennings’ contract situation has no impact on his point guard. Before the game, Skiles said, “You never know how that is going to affect today’s player. Some guys can play right through that, some guys succumb to it. It’s just, you never know how it is going to affect somebody.”

Jennings has work to do as he heads into a critical Year 4 for him.

“He has to be more efficient,” said Skiles, who has been the only NBA coach Jennings has known. “I feel like as time has gone on, he has continued to try to take better shots. When his feet are set and he is behind the 3-point line and somebody is driving and kicks it to him, that is his shot.

"He has a nice floater he can make. He has gotten better around the basket, but still not where he needs to be or is going to be, I think. He occasionally takes the dribble step-back shots and those are not high-percentage shots for him yet. As long as he takes his shots, he likes to play and he has been easy to deal with, easy to coach. This will be a big year for him, obviously.”